The 25 Most Hated Owners in Sports History

While there are certainly some great owners in American professional sports, the fact is we’ve seen a lot of terrible team owners come and go. Scandals, incompetence, acting crazy, and simply saying the wrong thing can quickly cause fans to turn on the people who own their favorite teams. Here we look back over the last several decades in the NBA, NFL, NHL, and MLB to come up with the 25 most hated owners in sports history.

25. The Maloofs

The Maloof family, who made their money in real estate, became the primary owners of the Sacramento Kings back in 1999. Their arrival with the team coincided with the Kings becoming relevant in the NBA for the first time in quite a while, with an exciting core built around Chris Webber, Vlade Divac, and Jason Williams. But as the on-court success dissipated, other problems exposed themselves. The Kings played in an old area, causing the Maloof’s to attempt to move the team to Anaheim in 2011.

Later, they tried to sell the franchise to a businessman with intentions to bring the Kings to Seattle. That made the Maloof family less popular in Sacramento. They eventually sold the team to current owner Vivek Ranadive.